Democrats repeat call for Cuccinelli to donate contribution

The Democratic Party of Virginia is working hard to keep the spotlight on Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's more than $55,000 in campaign contributions from a Florida man associated with a charity under investigation in three states.

The Party organized a conference call today with party Chairman Dick Cranwell, Sen. Don McEachin, House Minority Leader Del. Ward Armstrong (D-Martinsville) and military veteran Stephanie Marushia. The group said Cuccinelli should follow the lead of Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and State Sen. Patsy Ticer (D-Alexandria) and donate contributions he received from Bobby Thompson to an established veteran's charity.

Thompson was a director of the group U.S. Navy Veterans Association, the subject of a six-month long investigation by the St. Petersburg Times. Among the newspaper's revelations: Reporters were unable to locate 84 of 85 directors and officers of the organization, despite extensive public records searches. The attorney general of New Mexico announced an investigation of the group after being unable to locate people the group claimed were its New Mexico representatives.

"It's time for him to go ahead and donate that money to a reputable veteran's organization," Cranwell said. "That's it. It's time."

Cuccinelli has pledged to donate the money if Thompson is convicted of a crime associated with misappropriating charity funds. McEachin said the standard for donations should be "much higher than that." Though noting that in Virginia, charities are monitored by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, McEachin said Cuccinelli could, and should, write a letter to the regulatory group and urge an investigation of the charity's activities in Virginia.

Marushia said she was concerned that fundraising to other veterans organizations could drop off if the issue with the U.S. Navy Veterans Association continued to linger.

I think that Cuccinelli needs to investigate himself, as well as Bobby Thompson, for fraud if our esteemed state attorney general thinks it is ethical or moral from him to keep the $55,000 contributed by people who, I expect, thought they were making charitable contributions to a legitimate charity that cares for veterans. Does Cuccinelli really think that the $55,000 came out of Thompson's pocket, other than stopping there momentarily after the funds were drained from the charity? Please ask Cuccinelli not to insult my intelligence.

Cuccinelli should ask himself "WWTJD?" -- meaning "What would Thomas Jefferson do?" He certainly would not keep the money. He most likely would not have accepted it in the first place.

The impact that the Hillary Clinton campaign had on Norman Hsu's case was regrettable. They took a lot of money, gifts, and junkets from him. Then when he was arrested for fraud, they gave back the campaign money. Not only did they keep the gifts and not reimburse for the staff junkets, but they also harmed his right to be viewed as innocent until proven guilty.

They never gave back all the gifts or reimbursed the victims for the cost of the staff junkets. Norman is in a jail for a long time.